Help me to modify my diet

[DanTheMan]

I'm about to begin a gym routine and have created a diet that I think looks half decent, however from my estimates it only comes in at around ~2500kcals with not enough carbs. I am 5'11'' and 85kg with probably around 25% bodyfat.

8:00am
Porridge & 200ml milk - 10g protein, 30g carbs, 206cals
Protein shake - 25g protein, 10g carbs, 100cals
Banana - 1g protein, 27g carbs, 90cals

10:30am
Flapjack - 10g protein, 25g carbs, 140cals
Banana - 1g protein, 27g carbs, 90cals

1:00pm
2x Sardines in tomato sauce - 40g protein, 2g carbs, 200cals
1x Wholemeal pitta - 5g protein, 27g carbs - 145cals

4:30pm
Protein shake - 25g protein, 10g carbs, 100cals
Fruits - 1g protein, 27g carbs, 90cals

Post workout
Protein shake (2scp) - 40g protein, 20g carbs, 200cals
Banana - 1g protein, 27g carbs, 90cals

8:00pm
Meat (250g) - 60g protein, 0g carbs, 500cals
Brown Rice (150g) - 5g protein, 35g carbs, 200cals
Veg - 4g protein, 6g carbs, 100cals

That all totals 230g protein, 273g carbs, 2241cals. This seems a very small amount of calories in total. Where am I going wrong?

Cheers.

 

[LiE]

Lack of fats will be why your cals are down. What are your goals in the gym? 2500 isn't a bad starting point if you want to trim down while gaining some muscle. If you up the calories you'll gain more muscle but you'll gain more fat too, and I guess at 25% BF this isn't your desire?

 

[Mansize_tissue]

Why have you omitted the amount of fat that contributes to each meal's macronutrient breakdown? Also I'd definitely say you're not lacking in carbs, quite the contrary in fact.

As LiE said, increase your fat intake massively, it's incredibly low. And reduce carbs by 70-100g. That amount just isn't necessary for somebody looking to drop bodyfat, at least I'm assuming that's one of your goals?

 

[Steedie]

Fats fats fats.

I don't think your carbs are high enough if your doing an intensive routine, but it's up to you.

 

[AberystwythLAD]

The less carbs the better. I usually when cutting just eat around 50g of carbs and then once you've used that up your body starts looking for energy elsewhere, most notably your fat stores on your body.

Make sure you do long exercise in terms of cardio. longer and less intense is better than shorter and more intense. At the beginning of a workout your body uses carbs as they're easily accessible to quickly deliver to the parts of the body that needs energy.

So do 45 mins on the treadmill at a slightly slower pace than you would doing 30 mins.

I usually do 45 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes (7:30 x 2 sprint rows either side) of rowing and then weights, different parts of the body on different days.

I've piled on a lot this year, roughly 3 stone which is quite bad, as I've been injured from rugby and not changed my diet plus excessively drinking at university and the gym is quite pathetic.

Next year though, already sorted out accommodation with a few mates and we'll be having one room as a gym with a bench and everything so hopefully trim off some of the weight.

Good luck with your quest. Im currently around 17 stone with around 29% body fat so I need to lose quite a lot at the moment but I would love to get around 14=15 stone, a little body fat and quite a bit of muscle. Luckily, thanks to the exercise I've done, I only look around 15 and a half stone as it is because i have quite a bit of muscle beneath the fat. Its strange how it all works out.

Just remember a few tips

Don't eat after 7pm or 2 hours prior to bed
1 fizzy drink per day max if you need too
eggs are great in the morning
don't do too much at the start, moderately build up
don't feel intimidated by others, always think 'they must be on roids, ill be natural when I'm done', it gives you a sense of achievement to look forward too

My weight has yo-yo'd over the years a lot like ricky hatton's which got me the name from my mates of ricky fatton lol.

Good luck dude. Cut down on the carbs, add a lot of fat, make sure your calories are sufficient. Aim for 250 calories less per day than you need. Then aim to burn off at least 250 per day via cardio. Thats a 500 calorie deficit and that *7 is 3500 calories, 1 pound. That doesn't even consider the fact that you'll be doing weights so keeping up your metabolic rate post workout or the fact that you'll be putting on muscle from lifting. You could easily lose 3-4lb's of FAT per week at this rate if you sustain it at the beginning. Some will be water weight mind. However, you could lose a stone quite quickly. Don't be disheartened if the scales say one week you've not lost anything, its quite possible the muscle you've gained has counter balanced with the fat loss. Its a strange game. Play close attention and you'll learn it and reap the rewards from it.

I honestly can't wait to get back to university and get back into it myself.

 

[DanTheMan]

I'm looking to do mainly weights in the gym with cardio 1 day a week and a brief cardio session before every weights session.

The fat count totals around 65g in the diet I posted above. What if I switched the protein shake at 4:30pm and the flapjack at 10:30am for mixed nuts instead? I could easily add another 65g of mostly unsaturated fats to the diet by adding nuts into the mix.

 

[Mansize_tissue]

Aim for 100g of fats or thereabouts, whether they're saturated or not doesn't matter on whole, as long as you're not spooning lard into your mouth seriously don't worry about sat fat intake.

Also I'm going to have to go against AberystwythLAD's advice regarding cardio, though pretty much everything else said has been sound. Certainly do cardio, yes, but in the form of HIIT after your workout. It's much more efficient as you only need to spend around 10 minutes doing it after weight training, and the calorie burning effect lasts long after you stop. This is because, and somebody correct me if I'm wrong, VO2 remains higher after you've finished.

Generally, steady state cardio for long periods is a waste of time unless you're specifically training to improve distance/times. For fat loss and fitness, it's hard to beat resistance training combined with HIIT.

Also nuts, like you said, would be a good addition to your diet. As would eggs, pork (sausages: cheap, high in protein and fat!) and cheese.

Warming up before workouts with a set or 2 of barbell complexes wouldn't go a miss, either. Get an empty olympic barbell, and do the following with no rest:

15x deadlift (I do SLDL but normal will be fine)
15x BOR (bent over row)
15x front squat
15x OHP (overhead press)
15x back squat

Do all of that, rest for a couple of minutes, and do another set. That should get your heart pumping before getting into the weights.

 

[mrthingyx]

Swap the protein shakes for chicken salad and you'll be away.

In all seriousness, the advice already posted is good - nuts will be a good substitute for the cr4pjack which is sugar, mixed with syrup and then some starch and more sugar.

I must confess, I looked at your diet and my first reaction was that you weren't eating enough. Not sure what your goals are (mine were mass, mass, and then more mass), so it might be useful to let us know, too...

 

[Jonny69]

Just an observation, but that's a LOT of meat in your dinner. I know I do a lot more cardio than you're probably planning but I tend to build my meal from veg and carbohydrate and dump the meat on top. So that'll be potato, rice, pasta or beans of some sort with veggies like a bulked out tomato sauce or ratatouille depending what's in season cooked in with chicken on the bone, pork chop, lamb if it's reduced, beef the same, game when it's in season. Mix things up a bit, otherwise you'll get bored with it.

Your low calorie count might come from your lunch. I eat a full meal at lunchtime as well as dinner and hit about 3300 calories if I really go for it. On normal food that's some serious face-stuffing all day, so make sure you're eating stuff you like! If I have to buy a cold lunch it usually stretches to two sandwiches, crisps, fruit, chocolate and something else like a pasty - anything to get the calories in basically, but it'll have to be more than a tin of sardines and a pitta

 

[Mansize_tissue]

In my opinion dinner, tea, whatever you want to call it, the main meal of the day should be based around meat. Animal fat and animal protein are what our digestive systems are designed to process. Not much has changed in that respect in the last 10,000 years, a time when our diet was primarily meat with a bit of fibrous fruit and veg. Grains, legumes and sugars (except the small amount in fruit at the time, which was vastly different to it is now) never really appeared, hence our digestive systems cope much better without them.

 

[Zefan]

Make sure you do long exercise in terms of cardio. longer and less intense is better than shorter and more intense. At the beginning of a workout your body uses carbs as they're easily accessible to quickly deliver to the parts of the body that needs energy.

Can you tell me why exercise using energy stored in bodyfat is better than from carbs that are currently digesting? If those carbs are unburned they're just going to go turn into bodyfat anyway, so it makes no difference. As far as I'm aware the biology you're describing is correct, but the way you've interpreted it isn't. It's a very common mistake to make but it leads to backwards logic the dispensing of bad advice. HIIT is pretty much top dog for fat loss (note fat loss, not weight loss), which goes completely against your advice.

Don't eat after 7pm or 2 hours prior to bed

Why?

 

[mrthingyx]

Why?

If I remember correctly from the medical advice given to my dad, this is for the non-hardcore exerciser to not put weight (fat) on through consuming of food and then 8-10hrs of inactivity. And even then, it was related to carb/sugar-heavy foods.

Doesn't really apply to those with higher nutritional needs (i.e. those going in for higher activity/body "damage" through exercise/weights/yadda yadda)

 

[AberystwythLAD]

Can you tell me why exercise using energy stored in bodyfat is better than from carbs that are currently digesting? If those carbs are unburned they're just going to go turn into bodyfat anyway, so it makes no difference. As far as I'm aware the biology you're describing is correct, but the way you've interpreted it isn't. It's a very common mistake to make but it leads to backwards logic the dispensing of bad advice. HIIT is pretty much top dog for fat loss (note fat loss, not weight loss), which goes completely against your advice.

No it doesn't at all. If the carbohydrates are never there in the first place the body is forced to look elsewhere. Look up ketosis, its important! Its what you do on the Atkins diet. You take in minimal carbs and force your body to use other resources as sources of energy. By overloading on carbs your body will use them for roughly the first 20 minutes of exercise. Its not until a bit longer that your body starts burning from fat stores. 50g of carbs is more than enough for someone wanting to lose weight. Any more than that is stupid. You want your body to use the energy on you in fat stores, not pump more into you. You should only be putting in enough carbs to provide your body with quick access energy at the beginning of a workout. So that when its used it roughly cancels out at 0g left in your system. There is no point intaking 100g and then burning 50g, whats left gets turned into fat!

HIIT is only effective because it tricks your metabolism into something its not biologically used too.

Why?

Because if you sleep on it, you're not going to burn it as quickly and its more likely to stay on you as fat. However, there is an easy way to overcome this, take casein protein before bed. Its a slow digesting protein that works throughout the night and will keep your metabolism up. You want to be awake and moderately active a few hours after eating, its the best way to ensure your body doesn't store it as fat.

My girlfriend has a Masters in sports science and nutrition! This is why I know all this, as I've been lectured to death on the subject by her!

 

[Freefaller]

Why have you omitted the amount of fat that contributes to each meal's macronutrient breakdown? Also I'd definitely say you're not lacking in carbs, quite the contrary in fact.

As LiE said, increase your fat intake massively, it's incredibly low. And reduce carbs by 70-100g. That amount just isn't necessary for somebody looking to drop bodyfat, at least I'm assuming that's one of your goals?

Agreed.

You need more fats.

You don't need so many protein shakes, replace them with some chicken (with the skin) for example to get the macros up (or any other choice of meat you like).

I personally avoid carbs at night as it makes me burn up and get too hot.

In general you don't need so many carbs, you also don't need to go down the ketosis route either as it's not really sustainable, but your body craves carbs as it's what it's become used to as a result of poor modern diets. Our bodies were designed to get carbs from fruit/veg, and proteins and fats from meats and fish.

Long sessions of cardio aren't conducive to fat loss, though it is helpful for cardiovascular health which is not to be ignored. For optimum fat loss you want to hit the lactate threshold and improve it. Don't get me wrong SS cardio is good, but it achieves different things. Personally I feel a mixture of SS and HIIT or an intense weight training schedule is the best you can do.

Remember though, the less fat you have and the more lean muscle you have leads to higher fat loss and an improved metabolic state.

 

[Zefan]

Stuff about low carb diet, then repeating what you said before without actually addressing my point.

What you've said there is just what you said before with some "carbs are bad" talk thrown in. I'm not contesting anything to do with how many carbs he should be eating, I'm trying to get to the bottom of why you think exercise using food currently digesting is better than using other energy stores. What I'm trying to say here is why does it matter that an exercise uses the food you're digesting, rather than your fat stores?

Let's use an example. You eat 2,500kcals each day, over 2 weeks.

In the first week, you do 3x1.5hr runs, using a total of 3,000kcals. Just to make it easier, let's say all of that has come from your fat stores - exactly what you're stating is the best thing for fat loss. I think it's fair to say that his weekly kcals can now be calculated as such:

2,500kcals each day = 17,500kcals. 17,500 - 3,000 = 14,5000. 14,500kcals for the week, after taking excercise into account. Roughly 3,000kcals down, losing just under a pound in weight.

In the second week, you do 7x40min runs, using a total of 3,000kcals. Just to make it easier, let's say all of that has come from your diet, none from fat stores - exactly what you're stating is what you need to avoid for fat loss. Each run used 428(ish)kcals of your daily intake, taking you down to 2,070(ish)kcals per day.

2,070kcals each day = 14,500kcals. 3,000kcals down, losing just under 1 pound in weight.

Maybe another way of thinking about it might be this. Eat 500kcals in a mars bar, then go for a 90 minute run. For the first 20 minutes, it uses 150kcals from the mars bar, then for the next 70 minutes other sources of energy (fat stores) are used. Where do those 350kcals from the mars bar go? Fat stores.

It really doesn't matter whether you use up food currently digesting for exercise or your fat stores, anything unburned is going to end up there anyway. I hate to use someone elses words, but as FF says, long sessions of cardio aren't conducive to fat loss.

Because if you sleep on it, you're not going to burn it as quickly and its more likely to stay on you as fat. However, there is an easy way to overcome this, take casein protein before bed. Its a slow digesting protein that works throughout the night and will keep your metabolism up. You want to be awake and moderately active a few hours after eating, its the best way to ensure your body doesn't store it as fat.

Again, it's just taking away from one thing instead of another. If you eat those just before you go to bed, or 4 hours before you go to bed, it's still going into your daily intake and is either going to be burned off at some point or not.

My girlfriend has a Masters in sports science and nutrition! This is why I know all this, as I've been lectured to death on the subject by her!

Your girlfriend having a piece of paper doesn't stop you being wrong